Impact of Power - Tommy: Dino Thunder
by JTrevizo
Summary: Tommy finishes his latest stint in uniform… Spoiler: All PR through PRDT series finale "Thunder Struck Part II ". Part of the Impact of Power Series.


1/3/2013

From: JTrevizo

Rating: K (maybe K+)…

Spoiler: All PR through PRDT series finale "Thunder Struck Part II "

Disclaimer: Power Rangers belonged to Saban, then to Disney, and now are owned by Saban again. I'm so confused…

Summary: Tommy finishes his latest stint in uniform…

Hi all. This is another in the series of vignettes focused on former power rangers and how they find what they accomplished under the helmet had bigger impacts than just saving the world. Other stories are being posted under the Impact of Power title by other authors such as Pink_Green_White_4ever, ScarletDeva and Shawn30. A community is also now set up where all the series will be archived, as well as my home website. I hope you enjoy, and now, to the story…

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Impact of Power: Tommy [Black Dino Ranger]  
By JTrevizo 

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What was the baseball rule - three strikes and you're out?

Tommy had to think that perhaps maybe this time the rule would really be true and this was his last time to be a ranger.

And to be honest he wasn't all that unhappy about it.

After four different colors and all the assorted powers - green dragonzord, white tiger and then falcon, Zeo 5, red turbo and now finishing with the black dino thunder power he had to admit that he'd had more than his fair share of ranger changes.

Still, this time, just like it had been the time before, the end of his ranger days was different.

When he'd lost (the first time) the Green Ranger powers, it had been a blow. When Zordon had brought him back to aid the others when their coins were stolen it was always clear it was a temporary thing so that second ending really wasn't the same as the first.

Then after the White Ranger mantle was given to him, he had done everything he could to be the leader the team deserved, striving to live up to the ideals of a ranger. He and the team had fought and sacrificed. And along with that the challenges they faced resulted in new, different and sometimes more powerful powers.

White Ninjetti Falcon. Zeo 5 Red. Red Turbo Ranger.

Each different uniform came with new experiences.

And now he had one more uniform, power and color to maybe hang his career up on.

But this time he'd been more than a leader. He'd been a mentor.

That part of the change in his legacy had taken some getting used to. When he'd been a member of the team and then a leader he was with peers. Jase, Zack, Adam, Rocky, Aisha... Kim... all of them, they were of similar ages and backgrounds.

This team, *his* team had been him, the seasoned veteran guiding first three, then four young people all around the same age as he was when he'd started out.

It had been like looking in a mirror in so many ways.

Conner had been him as a tentative new leader. Figuring it out on the fly.

Ethan had been the smarts he'd found after leaving the team and going out to learn about the world and found a new path in college.

Kira had been the love of art - for him it had been his karate; and he'd found her music an inspiration to return to those roots. He planned to start teaching at the local dojo during the summer.

But it was Trent that had broken Tommy's heart. The similarities to how he'd come to the team - from being used for villainous purposes only to find the right path and work diligently towards redeeming himself with good deeds an echo of his own ranger path.

His team had embodied him in so many different ways. And this time it wasn't his accomplishments that defined him. It wasn't his leadership or their winning against evil.

It was what he'd been able to give these young people that they would be able to use forever. A sense of duty, of teamwork, of sacrifice, of caring... they had been a team and saved the world. They would go on knowing what they did had made a real difference.

In the end this last round in uniform wasn't about him at all.

And that was what had made it special.

Now, free of the burden of power and mentoring and saving the world he was starting to think that perhaps everything he'd learned and fought for wasn't quite enough. He'd made something of himself outside of being a ranger; it had made him wonder what else he could have that he'd thought he couldn't.

After everything he'd done and seen, maybe it was time to pick up the phone and make a call and see just what it might take to get a certain former original pink ranger back in his life...

With a smile Tommy picked up the picture he'd let Kira help him save of him and the original team, looking at the face of that first pink ranger who still held a special place in his heart before he set it aside to locate his phone book.

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Thanks for reading!

Please note that there will be a post for Legacy of Valor with a significant Author's Note that I suggest any of my fans read.

Ms. J.


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